Waves (Free Realms Sunrise)
by TealEmperor
Summary: When the Great Sunset descended upon Sacred Grove and locked it into eternal night, it was thought to be gone for good. But it wasn't. The world refused to be lost. The Sunrise has come, and the Realmers have awakened once more. Here is the story of one of them.
1. Chapter 1

Waves. That was the first thing I recognized-the sound of tide waves rolling against the sand. Their rumble, a sort of muted thunder on the land, filled the air. Then my other senses awoke. I smelled the salt in the air and felt the wet sand beneath me. I didn't get up right away; I just lay there in the cradle of the earth. For maybe a few minutes, maybe many minutes, I stayed there. Then a wave crested high and splashed me, soaking me with cold water and white froth.

I yelped in surprise and sat up abruptly. I coughed the water out of my mouth, rubbed my eyes, and glanced around. The sight of a glittering ocean and gently rolling sand dunes greeted me. Behind me, sand ran up an incline on the beach until it rose into a seaside cliff bedecked with flags and little thatch houses. I blinked, confused. This place seemed familiar, but I couldn't put a name on it.

Furthermore, what was I doing here? Evidently I had been sleeping, but why had I been napping on the shore of the ocean? Judging by my tanned skin and the sand-muck caked to my clothes, I had been there a while. Speaking of my clothes, I was wearing a green tunic and matching pants with a leather knapsack. And no shoes. Adventuring clothes, it seemed. I supposed it was fitting. Until I figured out the answers to my questions, like who I was and what was I doing, it looked like adventuring was on the agenda.

I stood up and brushed the sand out of my clothes as best as I could. A good starting point, I figured, would be to check my pack to see if I had anything inside to clue me in on what was going on. The results were disappointing. I only found a wrinkled chef's apron, a collection of weird berries, and a dog sweater. Now what would I do with a dog sweater? I didn't own a dog, and even if I did, as if they would need a sweater in this hot seaside climate. Annoyed, I cast the useless stuff on the ground amidst the jetsam half-buried in the sand.

Wait a minute.

"Seaside."

Why did that name seem so familiar?

I shrugged it aside for now and started picking through the jetsam, in case there would be anything useful washed up on the shore. I found pieces of bamboo (maybe the frame of a house at some point?), a rubber toy ball, milk cartons, half of a life preserver ring, and more than enough slimy kelp. But nothing helpful. Darn.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and started up the hill that led to the sea wall with the houses. A cool ocean breeze played over the beach, stirring my dark auburn hair. The beach was quiet at first, the only sounds being the soft wind, rumbling waves, and occasional seagull squawks, but then I heard it.

Music.

A soft rhythm underneath it all. The beat of lazy steel drums. And then the melody: a lilt on a whistling flute. No matter where I walked, the music sustained its volume, neither increasing nor diminishing. It was if the tune came from the air itself.

I recognized this song. The notes the flute whistled out haunted me. I had heard that series of notes so many times, on so many instruments and in so many moods, but I couldn't remember where or how. The memories were like dragonflies; whizzing about everywhere, but only stopping to give me a glimpse before taking off again. If only I had a net to catch them and get a better look!

Inclines and platforms crisscrossed the seaside cliff so that people could walk from building to building. As far as I could tell, the little village on the cliff was empty. Despite the empty village, I wasn't creeped out. Just curious. I just wondered where everyone had gone, and hoped they hadn't been taken away by some crazy apocalypse. I liked being left alone, but I didn't like being alone _all_ the time.

I passed by a mirror leaning against the bamboo wall of a house. I backtraced a step and stood in front of it to see just how disheveled I really looked. My expectations were not disappointed. A scrawny, sand-caked young woman stared back at me. The icy blue of her eyes made a stark contrast against the warmth of her tanned skin. She stood, muscles tense and pose shy, like she was waiting for something scary to jump out at her.

I shook my head. No sense acting like the reflection was another person. That woman was me. I still had a lot of questions, though. I didn't know what my name was or how old I was. Judging from my appearance, I seemed to straddle the time between teen and adult, but I couldn't assign a specific number of years.

Turning aside from the sorry sight in the mirror, I kept wandering through the empty town. I passed a watchtower for lifeguards and saw an abandoned horse paddock at the top of the hill. Colorful pennants on strings were draped from roof to roof. I spotted party floors complete with deejay stands on my walk. The lamps and electric lights glowed a warm, inviting golden. This must have been a fun place to hang out, back when there were still people here. It wasn't as if anything had happened to the seaside to make it un-fun. Why had everyone left? Where did they go?

"Seaside." There it was again. Now why did that strike such a familiar chord?

The longer I walked, the deeper I pondered it. And then, when I reached the top of the cliff and examined the beach in all its sandy fun glory, painted pink by the sunrise, it hit me.

Seaside _was_ the proper name of this place. I'd finally jogged the memory. There were still questions and unknowns, but if I could set one piece of the puzzle in place, who was to say I couldn't do the same for the rest? Most of the clues, I figured, would be in Seaside. I went back down the cliffside to the beach. In the process, I was treated to a glorious sunrise. When I first woke up, the stars were still fading out and dawn was a red glow in the east. As the sun appeared, the sky burned a fiery orange. Then it blushed pink. Finally, it blossomed into a clear, pale blue. A sweet floral smell carried on the gentle breeze.

All right, so I knew this place was Seaside, but how I wished I knew my own name! I supposed that, perhaps until I find out who I actually am, I should make up some name. That way, I could have something by which to call myself. Maybe that would help make this seem less crazy. I decided that I would name myself after the first thing that I saw. I closed my eyes so I could get a fresh look at the beach and find a namesake.

Of course, I realized too late that closing your eyes while walking on uneven ground isn't a good idea. I tripped on something (probably a rock) and stumbled, landing on my knees in the sand. When I cracked my eyes back open, the first thing in my line of sight was a seashell.

It was a small, fist-sized shell, rolled up into a cone shape. Pale peachy-pink in color, it had a rough surface and a smooth shiny interior. I wondered if one could pick it up and blast on it like a trumpet. For some reason, I could reach into a tiny corner of my memory and identify it as a conch shell. I didn't want to call myself Shell. I thought it was silly. Calling myself Conch, however, I wouldn't mind.

I, Conch, set to wandering the beach searching for clues. My mind was slowly untangling its secrets. I recognized bits and pieces of Seaside, remembering what purposes the various buildings had served. Over there were the trampolines that people would bounce on for fun. Out in the ocean floated the pirate ships. Up the hill was the paddock where they sold ponies to the rich people who had that funky cash they obtained from some "station." Me, I only had a pocketful of the regular coins doled out by quests and errands and that sort of thing.

I thought back to the "useless" stuff I had found in my backpack earlier this morning. The chef apron...the berries...the dog sweater. Ah, that was right-I liked cooking and gathering produce! Of course I would be carrying the related items!

Dummy! Now I felt stupid for throwing away the stuff I kept for my pastimes. I ran back to the shore and picked through the jetsam, hoping to retrieve what I had discarded. Unfortunately, waves had swept up on the beach and carried a lot of the refuse back into the ocean. The items I had dumped had been washed out to sea. Irretrievable.

 _Way to go, Conch_ , I thought glumly. Shouldering my mostly-empty backpack, I headed up inland again. I was still confused by the dog sweater. Of course, by now it was bobbing on the waves somewhere in the ocean, but why had I carried it in my pack? Had I mistaken it for a human-sized sweater? Or was it a sign of another old hobby of mine? I enjoyed cooking and farming, so if I owned a dog sweater…

If I…

Wait a second…

Did I own a dog?

I liked dogs. They were cute and friendly. I liked the idea of me having a canine companion on my adventures. If I had owned a dog, though, where was he or she now? Oh, she hadn't run away, had she? What a sad thought! I hardly knew my dog, but I missed her already. I hoped I could look for her pawprints in the sand and find her that way. She had to be close, right?

I walked along the shoreline, hearing the waves crash softly onto the sand beside me. I couldn't tell if it was low tide or high tide. I wondered if people who grew up in Seaside would be able to tell high tide from low. Yeah, they probably could. They could probably tell with just a glance.

First I'd need to find more people, though, before I even thought about folks specifically from Seaside.

To my right, the cliff rose up as a steep wall of rock. The crashing waves echoed off the stone, as did the seagull cries.

"Helloooo!" I yelled.

"Helloooo!" responded the echo.

"How are yoooou?"

"How are yoooou?"

"I'm gooood!"

"I'm gooood!"

Chuckling to myself, I walked further down the beach. The sun helped dry out my clothes and hair, but they were still wrinkled and dirty. I avoided the palm trees swaying in the wind, afraid that they might drop a coconut on my head. I started to get a little bored as I walked. Not much was happening.

Then I heard a wonderful sound. It echoed off the sea wall, repeating the lovely noise.

"Arf!"

It was a dog! I gasped out loud and turned about frantically, trying to spot the doggy.

"Here, puppy-puppy!" I cooed, trying to convince the dog to come. I wandered a little further down the beach and called again. I clapped my hands a couple of times.

"Arf!" A furry form came bounding out of a cluster of palm trees. A big, friendly, beautiful dog with golden fur and floppy ears ran at me. Her mouth was open in a dog-smile and her tongue lolled out. I bent down to get on her level, but she knocked me down anyway. For a second I was afraid that I was about to get bit. But instead I got a face full of dog kisses.

Laughing, I gently pushed the dog off me and wiped the spittle off my face with my shirt sleeve. The dog whimpered happily, bounding around in a circle. Her tail whipped from side to side in a blur.

"Aren't you just the cutest thing?" I cooed. "Do you have a name?"

"Arf!" she yelped.

"Of course you can't tell me your name. You're a dog, and dogs can't talk." I paused for a second. "Would be cool if they could, though."

She sat in the sand and whined, tilting her head to one side.

"My name's Conch...I think," I said. "I don't really know. I had to give myself a name. Would you mind if I gave you a name too? I think I'm good at naming things."

The dog just wagged her tail obviously.

I looked up at the sea wall. "I found you in a place that echoes a lot. How about I call you Echo? That's a pretty name."

I scratched "Echo" behind the ears. Her tongue lolled out as she dog-smiled again. I nodded.

"Echo it is."

We started walking back the way I came. Echo was at my heels, spraying sand as she bounded around in excitement. She was a very energetic dog.

"So here's what we're dealing with, Echo." I knew she couldn't say anything, but I wanted to voice my thoughts out loud. "Like an hour or so ago, I woke up on the beach after being asleep for who knows how long. This place is called Seaside. I remember a couple things about this place, but not a lot. I don't remember much of anything, actually."

I made myself sad by saying that. It was a little frustrating to to know, or at least not remember, what we were doing here.

"Like, I don't even know what my own name really is. Or how old I am, or if I was born on this beach or not. So I hoped that walking around Seaside might help me remember some things. I like the beach and the ocean, but I don't want to stay someplace that isn't home. You know? I walked down by those sea walls for a while, and that was when I found you. I had a dog sweater in my bag before I threw it in the water by mistake. I think you're my dog."

Even though she could never say anything back, Echo was an attentive listener. She would blink and nod (I think she was nodding) at appropriate times as I talked. I noticed that she wore a purple collar. A silver butterfly-shaped tag hung off it.

"Wait, stop for a second." I bent down to get a closer look. "I want to read that tag."

Echo stood still as I held the tag in my fingers and turned it over to see if there was anything printed on it. Sure enough, the word "ECHO" was engraved in the silver.

"Gosh!" I said. "Your name really is Echo! I remembered it. You knew just where to go so I'd remember what your name is when I was looking for you. You're a smart doggy!"

Echo made a light growling noise, pleased to be complimented.

"But I don't know, Echo. I'm not finding anything helpful here in Seaside. Do you think we should look somewhere else?"

Of course Echo could give no answer, so I decided for us. We headed back towards the cliffside village. Echo trotted faithfully beside me as we ascended the stairs and boardwalks to the top of the cliff. I paid little attention to our surroundings, as I had already been there once before, but Echo sniffed the ground and pawed at the floor. She seemed to be searching to find if there were other people here.

"I haven't found anyone else in this place," I told her. "I hope I do eventually, though. It's scary being all alone."

Echo whimpered sympathetically. I scratcher her behind the ears. We kept climbing up the cliff, until we finally reached its top. A dirt path snaked up over the hill and into the forest beyond.

I adjusted my backpack so it was sitting better on my shoulders. "Ready to go, Echo?"

"Arf!"

"All right!"


	2. Chapter 2

We set off, our feet and paws crunching on the dirt. By now the sun hung high in the sky, letting its light peek through gaps in the trees. The grass was dappled with little golden spots. What a pretty sight! It must have rained here yesterday, because the ground was still a bit damp. It smelled fresh. As we walked, I heard another song. Like the music in Seaside, it seemed to come from the air itself. The tune was very soothing: a series of slow, soft piano tones. There wasn't much of a melody to it, but it did make for calm background music to calm my nerves.

"I forgot which area was east of Seaside," I said to Echo. "Don't remember its name. I don't think I went there very often. Otherwise, it would seem more familiar to me. You know?"

I closed my eyes and tried to picture the map of the world laid out in front of me. Each area had its own symbol on the map. Seaside's symbol was a shell and an ocean wave. I could also recall a tree with gnarled roots, a curled thorny vine, a sunflower, two clinking mugs, and a leafless black tree. The lack of memory was frustrating. I knew there were more lands than just Seaside and those five other areas. But not only could I not remember what the other two or three places were, I couldn't even put names on their symbols! Argh!

"Rats! I guess we should just go into it and see if the memory gets jogged, huh?"

Echo wagged her tail. "Woof!"

"You think that's a good idea? Neat. Let's go."

On our journey eastward, my dog and I eventually came across a spot where the ground crested into hills and valleys. They were grassy on top, but the sides were rocky. We kept following a path of beaten dirt, hoping it would take us somewhere helpful. I didn't like to think about how I didn't have any idea what I was doing, so I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and focused on walking. We're going eastward. We'll find someplace that will answer my questions. We'll find other people...right?

Let's go with that. For now, we're going to walk along this path.

And then my foot just had to slip on the rock face. Before I realized what was happening, I was sliding down into a deep ditch. I fell backwards and landed in a mud puddle. A bush broke and slapped me in the face with a prickly branch. Still standing on level ground, Echo looked down at me and barked.

"Stay there, Echo," I warned her, holding up my hand. "It'll be OK."

Echo attempted to walk down the incline to help me. Her paws almost slipped.

"No, Echo," I said, more forcefully this time. "Stay. I'll find my way up. Just wait there for me."

First I tried to climb out of the ditch, crawling up the rock face on my hands and feet. That didn't work. The rock was smooth, so I couldn't get a handhold.

"Nuts." I brushed some of the mud off my clothes. "Gonna have to try something else."

I rubbed my hands together and looked around for inspiration. Maybe if I grabbed a branch and pulled myself up…? Okay, it was worth a shot. I spotted a branch hanging down and grabbed it. Bracing my feet against the rock, I attempted to climb out by using the branch like a rope. That didn't work, either. The reason the branch was hanging low was because it had already broken off the tree during a storm. Me putting my weight on it just snapped it off the tree completely. Down I went again.

"I'm dumb," I said to myself. Angrily I grabbed the branch and threw it across the ditch. Of course, it didn't go very far because the ditch was tiny, but it made me feel a little bit better. Stupid crazy terrain.

Echo was concerned for me now. She whined as she watched me try to escape my predicament. Then she barked at me a couple times, as if she was asking, "Are you sure you don't want help?"

"I've got this, Echo. I don't like to ask for help. I just...Maybe I'm not trying hard enough to climb out."

Before I could make another ill-fated attempt to escape the ditch, I heard a strange noise from above. It sounded like murmuring. Echo turned her attention away from me to look at whatever was making that noise. As it got closer, I recognized the sound. It sounded like people talking.

Wait.

There _were_ other people here?

"Echo!" I said. "I need your help. I really do this time. Can you let those people know I'm down here?"

Echo started barking like crazy. She ran around in agitated circles, trying to get their attention.

"Good girl!" I said, giving her a thumbs-up. Then I fell quiet so I could listen to what was going on.

"What in the...Do you hear that?" a male voice asked. He sounded a bit muffled, but it was clear that he was approaching.

A female voice responded, "If I'm not crazy-"

"You're crazy."

"Okay, well, if I'm not more crazy than usual, I think I hear a dog."

"Are you sure? I thought they were all missing."

"Maybe one or two slipped away from them? We should check it out."

"Of course. It's coming from over there."

There were some approaching footsteps. I couldn't see well from my vantage point, but they must have found Echo because she stopped barking.

"Why, hello there, cute stuff!" the guy said. "What are you doing out here alone?"

"Hey! That's your nickname for me!" the girl protested. "Don't call the dog cute stuff."

"But she is cute. What do you think she's doing out here?"

"Probably being hungry. Who knows how long she's been on her own?"

"Yeah, I bet you're lonely," the guy baby-talked to Echo. "You're a good girl, aren't you? Yeah yeah. What are you doing?"

Echo woofed and walked up to the edge of the slope. She pointed her nose down at me.

"Is she trying to show us something?" the girl asked.

"Arf!" Echo demanded.

"Okay, okay, let's look at it," said the guy, and he leaned over to look in the ditch. He gasped when he saw me sitting in the mud pit.

"What's the matter?" the girl asked.

"Oh my gosh! There's a person down here!" he yelled. "Are you OK, miss?"

"Hi!" I said. "I fell down here and got stuck. Can you help me out?"

Immediately the guy started rifling through his pockets, eventually pulling out a coil of rope. He unrolled it and tossed one end down to me. Bobbling the catch, I picked it off the ground and held it.

"I've got you," he promised. "Brace your feet against the rock face and I'll pull you up, 'kay?"

"OK," I said. "Thanks!"

The guy kept a firm grip on the rope. He stepped backwards one foot at a time, helping me climb up the sheer rock face. Slowly but surely, I made my way up, until I finally stepped out onto level ground. I let go of the rope, and the guy coiled it back up.

"What a way to meet someone," the girl commented. "Are you okay, miss?"

"Uh-huh," I said. "Just a little shaken up, is all."

Echo bounded over to me and licked my face. I gave her a hug and scratched her behind the ears.

"Anyway, I guess we should introduce ourselves," the girl continued. "My name is Kara Owltalon, and that's my boyfriend, Christopher Hedgethistle."

"Joy to meet ya!" Christopher waved.

They were an odd couple. Kara was a pixie girl with dark pink butterfly wings, while Christopher was a human boy with bronzed skin and dark hair. Kara didn't wear any makeup, nor did she wear shoes. She had on a tie-die shirt and wore a bunch of bead bracelets on her arms. Christopher, on the other hand, wore camo-colored clothes and a belt with dozens of small pouches on it.

"Hi, Kara Owltalon. Hi, Christopher Hedgethistle," I said. "Thanks for helping me."

"Ugh, Kara," Christopher said to his girlfriend. "Do you always have to refer to us by our full names? Now that poor girl thinks she needs to call us that all the time."

I was a little confused. "What do you want me to call you?"

"I'm fine with just 'Chris,' really," he said. "And don't call Kara by her full name all the time, 'kay? It gets kind of weird."

"Sorry," I squeaked.

"I like my full name," Kara insisted. "It gives me the good vibes."

"It gives me the weird-outs," Chris countered. "Look, I like your name, but I don't want to hear the full thing all the time. Or say it."

"But calling myself 'Owltalon' helps reaffirm our origins and sustains the connection of our souls to the life force of nature."

Chris sighed and turned to me. "Kara's a hippie, in case you haven't noticed."

"Right." I didn't know if that was supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing, so I tried to make my response sound neutral.

"Gosh!" Kara suddenly covered her mouth in surprise. "With all this excitement, we forgot to ask you what _your_ name is! I'm sorry."

"My name is Conch...I think." It still didn't feel right.

Chris frowned. "Just 'Conch?' No way. You have a full name, don't you? What's your last name?"

I shrugged. There was a slight pause, and then Chris snapped his fingers angrily.

"I forgot that the stupid spell wiped people's memories. This poor girl doesn't even remember her own name," Chris said to Kara.

"If that's the case, we really need to bring her to the hub so they can help her. Even if she wants to go off on her own, don't let her. It's still not safe for people to wander alone."

"Hey, can I see your pack for a second?" Chris asked me.

I shrugged. Since I didn't have much of anything left in my bag, there was no need to worry about what would happen if Chris stole it. Besides, he seemed like a nice person. I slipped my satchel off my shoulder and handed it to him.

Chris opened it up and shook out the contents. A half-empty bottle of shampoo, a bow and arrow, another chef apron, stale dog treats, and a can of silly string tumbled onto the dirt ground. Apparently there was plenty of stuff left in the back that I had missed. How did I not notice a bow and arrow, of all things, in there before?

But Chris wasn't interested in that stuff. He found a slip of paper in the bag and studied it closely. Chris must have been nearsighted, because he held the paper really close to his face.

"Check this out, 'Conch,'" said he. "It's your registration information. "

"My what?"

"Basically the important things to know about you. It helped Kara and I jog our memories. Maybe it can do the same for you."

"What does it say?"

"Let's see...According to this, you were born in Stillwater Crossing, you have the Adventurer, Chef, Pet Trainer, and Archer classes, and you own a very cute dog named Echo. You're kind of solitary because I don't see any friends or guilds listed. No rule violations reported, so you're a good citizen, too. And...aha! Your name is Charlotte Falconblossom."

I was floored. "It is?"

He handed me the page. I checked for myself. Sure enough, the name Charlotte Falconblossom was printed on the top line, along with a grainy photograph of me. I blinked and rubbed my eyes a couple of times to make sure it was real. Echo barked happily and danced around my feet.

"Welcome to the Sunrise, Charlotte." He smiled. "It's always good when we find a new woken-up person."

"The Sunrise? What's that?" I stuffed the bow and arrow, shampoo, apron, and silly string can back in my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Echo snapped up the dog biscuits, only to make a disgusted face and spit them back out. Too stale, apparently.

"It's huge!" Kara cut in. "There used to be a Gloam spell cast on Sacred Grove that locked it into eternal night. The Great Sunset, it's called. But now the sun has risen again, and some of the Free Realmers are waking up! We're trying to round up everyone so we can stand against the Gloam. We defeated their Sunset, but we're going to have to work hard to push them out of Sacred Grove for good."

I blinked, trying to process all that. I had never heard of the Gloam or this Great Sunset that Kara was talking about. I hoped she would explain it more later.

"I'm just surprised you still have your dog." Kara pointed at Echo, who woofed at her. "The Gloam kidnapped all the pets and NPCs that used to live in Sacred Grove. They must have missed one of two, though. Why do you think Echo escaped the clutches of the Gloam?"

I shrugged. "She's a smart dog. I don't really know, Kara."

"I don't blame you. The spell that the Gloam cast to bring the Great Sunset wiped everyone's memories. They always need some kind of catalyst to bring them back. Did you have a moment like that?"

I stopped to think about that for a second. "Actually, yeah, I kind of did. I woke up in Seaside, but I had _no_ idea what was going on until I started walking on the beach and thinking about things. I thought about how it was such a nice seaside place, and then it just sort of clicked that the place really was called Seaside."

"Nice!" Kara nodded. "What worked for Christopher and I was finding our registration information. That's what jogged the memories for us. Not only did it tell us who we are, but it helped us remember what life was like before the Great Sunset. Maybe we can find something that will do that for you."

"You'd help me find that?" I inquired.

"Well sure! I'm always glad to help a new friend. Come here." Kara held out her arms at me, offering a hug. I accepted it. Kara didn't seem to mind that I was caked in sand and mud from my adventures of this morning. It must have been a hippie thing, like Chris had said.

Speaking of Chris, he piped up, "We can't help her too much out in the Wilds, though. We should take Charlotte to the gathering in Sanctuary. Someone can help her get cleaned up, and they should know that another Realmer just woke up, anyway."

Kara snapped her fingers at Chris. "Great idea, babe! Let's go. Charlotte and I will be right behind you."

"Gotcha." Chris started heading down the path. "Don't wait up too long."

Kara slipped off one of her bracelets and put it on my wrist instead. It was a string of glass beads and shell fragments on a cord, tied with a clever knot. The beads were green and blue. They reminded me of the ocean.

"It's a friendship bracelet," Kara explained. "You should have one because you're my friend, and also, the Pioneers will know that you're a newly awakened Realmer. Chris and I are Scouts. We head out to search Sacred Grove for clues, Gloam hideouts, and stuff like that, but my favorite part is finding new Realmers. I always give them a bracelet when I find them."

"Cool." I slid the bracelet up my arm a little so it wouldn't slip. "Thanks, Kara."

"Hey, no problem!" She gave me a thumbs-up. "Now quick. We gotta catch up to Chris!"


End file.
